$100,000 Knee Replacement for "Poor Quality"

Send us a text

I'm frustrated by a recent $100,000 bill my client received for a knee replacement performed at a low-quality facility. I can't help but question how we've normalized this level of waste in our healthcare system. This egregious example highlights everything wrong with healthcare today—the only industry where we blindly follow recommendations without any information about quality or cost.

But there's hope on the horizon. Progressive companies across America are creating a revolutionary healthcare experience for their employees. Picture a fork in the road: one path leads to the familiar landscape of deductibles, co-pays, and maximum out-of-pocket expenses. The other path—the one changing the game—directs employees to high-quality, reasonably-priced providers where they pay absolutely nothing for their care. Zero dollars. From routine dermatology visits to complex procedures like knee replacements, employees can access excellent care without opening their wallets.

This isn't some futuristic fantasy—it's happening now for organizations with 100+ employees. By recapturing the enormous waste in the system (like that $70,000 of unnecessary spending on a single knee replacement), employers can fund their employees' healthcare costs completely. We're eliminating waste while simultaneously improving access to quality care. If you're tired of watching healthcare costs spiral out of control, share this message with company leaders and decision-makers in your network. Together, we can transform healthcare from a burden into a benefit that truly serves people without breaking the bank.

Music by Alex Lambert.

Contact Justin via text 740-525-5259 or via email [e-mail]

I welcome the opportunity to hear your feedback from this episode!

Thanks again to my musically gifted friend Alex Lambert for the music. Also thanks to Kevin Asehan for the edits.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to another Tuesday morning with Justin.
I'm Justin Futrell, benefitAdvisor at True North Companies,
and today, well, I promisedthat I would paint the picture
of what's possible in thehealthcare landscape.
But before I do, I got to share.
I am a little frustrated rightnow.

(00:21):
I'm a little frustrated becausea claim just came in for one of
my client's employees, and it'sa knee replacement in Fort
Collins that exceeded $100,000for a knee replacement.
Now, if this was the best kneereplacement in the world, okay,
I might be able to wrap my headaround it, but it is a place

(00:44):
that has a poor quality rating.
So not only do we pay threetimes more than we needed to for
a knee replacement, but alsoit's a poor quality rating.
How long will we continue tolet people go to poor quality

(01:04):
facilities and pay egregiousprices for it?
It doesn't make sense.
Healthcare is the only industrywhere you and I are sent
recommendations to places to go,and we have no idea whether
that's truly a goodrecommendation or not when it
comes to either quality or cost.
Fired up, it's disheartening.

(01:29):
But let me turn to the morehopeful future and paint this
picture of what's possible.
What is happening today in thehealthcare landscape around the
country.
What is possible, team?
If we think about a path right,maybe visualize a fork in the

(01:49):
road Okay, if you want to goleft, if you want to go left,
that's the way you've alwayswent and you can keep going that
way.
You'll pay your deductible,you'll pay your co-pays, you'll
pay your out of pocket maximum.
But if you choose to go to theright, if you choose to go to
the right, this is a world wherewe know quality, we know cost

(02:09):
and we will steer you on anicely paved road to high
quality, reasonably pricedplaces of care.
That means, if you need adermatology visit, go wherever
you want to and pay your normalpayments.
If you choose to go this way toa dermatologist that's good

(02:30):
quality and reasonably priced,we'll actually pay for every
dime that that costs.
You pay zero dollars.
You need an x-ray, you need anMRI, you need a knee replacement
.
If you take the advice of agood quality, reasonably priced
place of care, you pay zero0.
It's just not that difficult.
If you're a company with 100employees or more.

(02:51):
We can simplify things so muchand give people free healthcare.
It sounds absurd, but we cangive people free healthcare.
How?
Because if we don't payattention, we get charged
$100,000 for a knee replacementthat $70,000 of waste right

(03:11):
there.
That's how we can give moneyback to employees and pay for
the actual costs of copays anddeductibles, just by steering
them to high quality, reasonablypriced places of care.
Thanks for hanging with me today.
Encourage you to give us Idon't know, this might be a bad

(03:35):
day to ask for a five-starreview, I'm not sure Subscribe,
it helps us grow the show.
Feel free to share this with afriend or a leader who runs
their own company or is a partof their company's health plan,
because what we wanna do iscreate this world where we're
eliminating waste in thehealthcare system, and I believe

(03:57):
that we can help take care of ahell of a lot of people in that
process by giving employeesoptions of free healthcare good
healthcare that's no cost tothem.
All right team.